What Is the New Development Model for ABAP?

The new development model recommended by SAP today is called ABAP Cloud.

Before you shy away from the term cloud and question the relevance of this post for your ABAP development, note that ABAP Cloud is also available as an on-premise version. The misleading name merely indicates that the applications developed using the model are generally cloud-capable, but not that they necessarily have to be executed in the cloud.

What Is a Development Model?

A development model is understood here as a holistic development methodology. This includes the following elements:

• The programming language itself (e.g., the available syntax)
• The software architecture, which is implemented using programming models or specific frameworks
• The development environment, that is, the surrounding tooling for delivery and versioning
• The management and use of dependencies using stable interfaces

We frequently use the phrase “in ABAP Cloud” to mean that the specific technology or procedure is available and recommended in the development model.

ABAP Cloud Components

ABAP Cloud uses the familiar ABAP technology of the ABAP platform, but deliberately restricts it to the following aspects.

ABAP Language Version

In ABAP Cloud, the use of the ABAP language version called ABAP for cloud development is mandatory.

Use of Objects

Only repository objects released via application programming interfaces (APIs) can be used in ABAP Cloud. This applies to both procedure calls and type definitions.

Development Environment

The ABAP development tools are used as the development environment in ABAP Cloud.

Programming Model

The ABAP RESTful application programming model is used as a programming model for transactional applications.

In some cases, these rules are ensured by the syntax check or the runtime environment. For example, the classic ABAP Workbench can’t be used in the SAP BTP ABAP environment and in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition due to a lack of SAP GUI support. The use of unreleased objects results in syntax errors in the ABAP language version.

Classic ABAP

As a contrast to ABAP Cloud, there’s classic ABAP. In classic ABAP, there are no restrictions with regard to the aspects mentioned, and the entire spectrum of ABAP technology is available, including the latest techniques. For this reason, you can also use all the solutions shown in the book in classic ABAP or combine them with older technologies.

Requirements in the Cloud

The definition of a new development model was simply necessary for the cloud runtime environments, that is, for the SAP BTP ABAP environment and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. A way had to be described to develop applications that meet the requirements of cloud environments. For example, a CALL SCREEN would address an unavailable SAP GUI and an OPEN DATASET would address an unavailable file system. A CLIENT SPECIFIED/USING CLIENT would override the tenant concept. A direct UPDATE statement for an SAP standard table would jeopardize data consistency.

In addition, the aforementioned cloud systems are regularly and automatically updated to the next release. A customer’s own coding must therefore be upgrade-stable, as it’s not intended that upgrades will be blocked if necessary code adjustments haven’t yet been made. It’s not possible to react to changed or removed objects in the standard SAP system. In addition to promoting current technologies and application architectures, ABAP Cloud solves all of these problems by usually flagging them as syntax errors and thus preventing them during implementation.

Why an On-Premise Deployment?

While there’s no technical need for the aforementioned restrictions in the SAP S/4HANA on-premise solution, they may still be desirable here. If you voluntarily adhere to the rules specified by ABAP Cloud, this will make it easier for you to perform the next upgrade, for example, because in cloud environments this upgrade would have taken place automatically. This on-premise perspective is also important for the clean core concept. You also have the option of outsourcing your ABAP-based applications to the cloud later.

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Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book ABAP Cookbook: Practical Recipes for Modern Programming by Fabian Lupa and Sven Treutler. Fabian is a senior software engineer and trainer at Adesso, where he has worked since 2022. His primary responsibility is employee training and development in the context of ABAP programming, as well as developer enablement in customer projects. Sven is a passionate ABAP developer. He has worked on ABAP development at rku.it GmbH in Herne since 2010. There, he focuses on new technologies and quality assurance in the ABAP environment.

This post was originally published 12/2025.